In the spring of 1784, Nelson was given
command of the Boreas, a 28-gun frigate, with
orders to proceed to the Leeward Islands Station at
English Harbour, Antigua. His task was to enforce the
Navigation Act, which stipulated that only British
vessels could trade with Britain's Caribbean colonies.
The Act had become a major problem with the end of the
American Revolution, as American vessels, now foreign,
continued to dominate trade between the West Indies and
the former colonies. Moreover, the West Indian merchants
and planters, who were rather interested in maintaining a
very profitable part of their trade, had the audacity to
quietly encourage such pernicious practices. As a result,
the arrival of Captain Nelson was not greeted with
exceptional joy.

The
situation worsened a few months later when, cruising off
Charlestown, Nevis, the zealous young commander seized
four American ships illegally laden with Nevisian goods.
Although the ships had obviously violated the Navigation
Acts, their captains (supported, to Nelson's great
chagrin, by the Charlestown merchant community) sued him
for illegal seizure in the amount of 40,000 pounds.

In the ensuing
trial, the judge eventually upheld the British navy's
right to seize the American ships. However, to avoid
arrest and imprisonment in the interim, Nelson spent
nearly eight straight months aboard his frigate--a
situation that he did not find at all amusing. Before
sequestering himself in the Boreas, however,
Nelson had met Francis Nisbet, a young Nevisian widow,
and had called at her Montpelier estate. He was quite
taken by her refinement, as well as by her
resourcefulness in operating a large house alone. She
was, in addition, an accomplished musician and a fluent
speaker of French. Nelson and Fanny quickly fell in love,
and they married on March 11, 1787, at Montpelier. Prince
William Henry, Duke of Clarence, later to be King William
IV of England, and a close friend of Nelson's, gave away
the bride.